Where do you send students to throw up? (warning: gross)

[Sarge]

I've generally told them to go outside.

Our room is carpeted, so if they throw up inside, we have literally have no classroom for the rest of the day.

Well, today, a kid had to throw up and headed outside, but only made it as far as the entrance to the door. He threw up all over the door, just outside the door, and all over the backpacks (room is too small for the kids to have them inside).

Needless to say, this caused some major problems. Door open - vomit. Door closed - vomit. I couldn't even remove the kids from the room because they would have to step through vomit to get outside.

Luckily the janitor was speedy with the cleanup.

But at least my kids were positive about it. As one student remarked "Wow, that kid's really good at barfing!"

[bison]

Haha, good at barfing.

If a kid says they feel like throwing up, the policy at my school is to send them running to the bathroom.

[TamiJ]

Lol. I just say go to the bathroom. Now. I had a girl throw up all over her group table this year. We moved the kids to the back table until the janitor could come in.

[KateL]

LOL. I used to teach at an outdoor school, and we always had a few students who would make themselves throw up from homesickness. We told them to aim over the side of the deck, but I've seen vomit everywhere.

Maybe tell your students to aim for the trash can?

[czacza]

Garbage can if it's imminent...I've handed kids an empty bucket to carry to nurse if they feel like they might on the way.

[bison]

Oh, I just remembered that I witnessed a barf episode when observing in a special ed classroom recently. It got all over the table and luckily only a little on the carpet. The adults clearly had their stuff together and took care of things at lightning speed. One took care of the sick kid, another moved the rest, remaining adults cleaned up the puke in about 30 seconds flat. Didn't even need to call the custodian. It was all very impressive.

I start gagging and dry heaving every time I see, hear, or smell puke. One of these days, I'm gonna break.

[ChristyF]

I had a kid projectile vomit today. I was teaching hard and didn't even realize it until one of the kids told me. He was just sitting there holding his face and it was EVERYWHERE. (Like 15 feet across the room.) I was trying hard to be a grownup. I got papertowels to him, convinced him to get up and go to the bathroom. Then I called the office. The kids were troopers and we were going to hang tough, then the smell hit and I started gagging. One of the girls near the desk started heaving and that was it. We got our papers and pencils and headed to the hall. I taught in the hall about 20 minutes while the janitor cleaned and the "air freshener" thinned out some. It was rough!!! lol My principal laughed at me, though, when she came by and saw kids lining both sides of the hall sitting there taking notes about the layers of Earth.

[FourSquare]

Garbage! Bathroom!

I am equally sensitive to vomit....even the word makes me irked. I had a kid throw up in the middle of the carpet last year. He wasn't sitting on the side of course....right in the MIDDLE. He caught most of it in his hands and his lap.

And, I die.

[YoungTeacherGuy]

Originally Posted by Sarge

Our room is carpeted, so if they throw up inside, we have literally have no classroom for the rest of the day.

What? Why would you not be able to use the classroom for the rest of the day? I've never heard of such a thing.

I've always taught in carpeted classrooms and whenever someone vomits, the custodian comes, sprinkles some "baking soda type stuff" on the floor, vacuums it up, and uses an enzyme-based cleaner to remove the stains and/or smells. This whole process takes about 15-20 minutes MAX. During the time the janitor is cleaning the room, I take the kids out to recess.

I have several kids throw up each year and it's no big deal (there have been times, though, that I've had to throw away textbooks or other materials when kids have thrown up all over their desks).

[Auter12]

I grab a garbage, put it in the line of fire (and in their hands) and send them to the nearest "safe place" to barf, usually the bathroom. I did have to send a kid outside once. Luckily our classroom had an exterior door. I have also seen a child barf all the way down the hall, leaving a trail behind her (no garbage can avail.) The janitor didn't appreciate that, but he did appreciate that I got her off the carpeted floor just before the eruption!